On Monday, March 16, the ECB announced its weekly Main Refinancing Operation. This attracted bids for €226.07 billion from euro area eligible counterparties, which amount was allotted in full at a fixed rate equivalent to the prevailing main refinancing rate of 1.50 per cent.

On the same day, the Eurosystem and the Swiss National Bank conducted a EUR/CHF foreign exchange swap, with a seven-day maturity, to provide Swiss franc liquidity against the euro. This operation received bids for €42.14 billion. As the volume of bids exceeded the intended volume of €25 billion, participating counterparties received 59.33 per cent of the amounts bid for. This operation was conducted at a fixed price of -3.40 swap points.

The following day, the ECB, in conjunction with the US Federal Reserve, conducted a seven-day US dollar funding operation through collateralised lending. This attracted bids for $79.80 billion, which amount was allotted in full at a fixed rate of 1.23 per cent.

In the domestic primary market for Treasury bills, the Treasury invited tenders for 91-day bills maturing on June 19. Bids for €59.28 million were submitted, with the Treasury accepting €21.20 million. Since €11.65 million matured during the week, the outstanding balance of Treasury bills increased by €9.55 million to €533.35 million.

The yield resulting from the auction was 2.186 per cent, that is, 9.7 basis points less than that on bills with a similar tenor issued on March 13. The latest yield represented a bid price of 99.4505 per 100 nominal. Today the Treasury will invite tenders for 182-day bills maturing on September 25.

Treasury bill trading on the Malta Stock Exchange amounted to €4.41 million during the week, with all trades being conducted by the Central Bank of Malta in its role as market maker. Off-exchange transactions amounted to €3.45 million, and were all conducted by the Central Bank of Malta.